1. Field of the Invention:
The present invention relates to an automatic money depositing apparatus for use in a banking facility such as a bank for depositing bank notes or paper currencies, and more particularly to such an automatic money depositing apparatus for discriminating bank notes that have been deposited by a customer, then temporarily storing the bank notes in a temporary storage unit, waiting for customer's instructions as to monetary transaction, and effecting a subsequent process according to the customer's instruction.
2. Description of the Prior Art:
Automatic transaction machines used in banking facilities such as banks include a money depositing machine for depositing bank notes under the direction of a customer. When cash such as bank notes is deposited by a customer into the automatic money depositing machine, the bank notes are delivered one by one to a discriminator which ascertains whether the deposited bank notes are true or false, and the discriminated bank notes are divided and temporarily stored as true and false bank notes. Then, the sum of money represented by the true bank notes, i.e, the paper money that can be accepted, is indicated to the customer, and any false bank notes put into the machine are returned to the customer. A subsequent process will be effected with respect to the true bank notes under the direction of the customer. More specifically, if the customer gives instructions for transaction approval, then the acceptable bank notes are sorted out and stored in bank note containers according to their denominations. If the customer does not with monetary transaction, then the acceptable bank notes are returned to the customer.
One such automatic monetary transaction machine is disclosed in Japanese Laid-Open Patent Publication No. 58(1983)-140890. FIG. 8 of the accompanying drawings illustrates the disclosed machine in sectional side elevation.
The automatic monetary transaction machine has a housing 1 accommodating therein various components described below, constituting automatic money depositing and dispensing apparatus. A bank note receiver 2 for receiving bank notes deposited by a customer is located inwardly of a bank note receiving slot defined in an upper portion of the housing 1 and having an openable shutter.
A bank note separator/feeder 3 is disposed directly below the bank note receiver 2 and has a suction drum 4 for separating, under suction, the bank notes delivered from the bank note receiver 2 and feeding them one by one.
The housing 1 also houses therein a bank note discriminator 5 having an optical sensor, a magnetic sensor, and a discriminating circuit (not shown) for checking whether the bank notes from the separator/feeder 3 are true or false, whether they are damaged or not, for identifying the denominations of the bank notes to be deposited and dispensed, and for counting the amount of money represented by the bank notes and a temporary storage unit 9 for storing false bank notes. These finned wheels 6, 7 and the temporary storage units 8, 9 are positioned in an upper portion of the housing 1. Those bank notes which have been discriminated as true bank notes are delivered by the finned wheel 6 into the true bank note storage unit 8, and those bank notes which have been discriminated as false bank notes are delivered by the finned wheel 7 into the false bank note storage unit 9.
The housing 1 accommodates in a lower portion thereof a money container 10 for storing bank notes of one denomination, e.g., 1,000 a money container 11 for storing bank notes of another denomination, e.g., 10,000, a money container 12 for storing deposited bank notes which have been judged as damaged bank notes by the discriminator 5, and a reject money container 13 for storing bank notes which have been judged as unacceptable bank notes upon denomination identification by the discriminator 5 and upon detection by a sensor (not shown) of two stacking bank notes when bank notes are to be dispensed.
Finned wheels 14, 15, 16, 17, are disposed respectively above the money containers 10, 11, 12, 13, for stacking bank notes in these money containers 10, 11, 12, 13.
A suction drum 18 is combined with the finned wheel 14 for separating and feeding bank notes one by one from the money container 10. Another suction drum 19 is combined with the finned wheel 15 for separating and feeding bank notes one by one from the money container 11.
The various components as described above housed in the housing 1 are interconnected by a feed path 20 comprising feed rollers, feed belts, and swingable blades for changing feed rollers, feed belts, and swingable blades for changing the direction of feed of bank notes.
The automatic monetary transaction machine shown in FIG. 8 operates as a money depositing apparatus as follows: Bank notes placed into the bank note receiver 2 by a customer are delivered to the bank note separator/feeder 3 and separated and fed one by one by the suction drum 4 along the feed path 20 into the bank note discriminator 5. The bank note discriminator 5 checks if the bank notes are true or false, identifies the denominations of the bank notes, counts the amount of money represented by the bank notes, and checks if the bank notes are damaged or not. Any bank notes which are judged as false bank notes are fed along the feed path 20 toward the finned wheel 7, by which they are stacked in the temporary storage unit 9. The bank notes which are judged as true bank notes are supplied via the feed path 20 to the finned wheel 6, by which they are stacked in the temporary storage unit 8.
After all of the deposited bank notes are stored in the temporary storage units 8, 9, the sum of money represented by the true bank notes that can be accepted is indicated on a display (not shown), and the false bank notes are fed from the temporary storage unit 9 along the feed path 20 back to the bank note receiver 2 for return to the customer.
The customer is then required to make a decision as to whether monetary deposit is approved of or not, and gives instructions for approval or nonapproval through an instructions input unit (not shown).
If the customer gives instructions for transaction approval, then the true bank notes stored in the temporary storage unit 8 are delivered via the feed path 20 through the temporary storage unit 9 and the bank note receiver 2 to the separator/feeder 3. Thereafter, the true bank notes are separated and fed one by one by the suction drum 4 along the feed path 20 to the discriminator 5 again.
The discriminator 5 then checks if the bank notes are damaged or not and also identifies their denominations, after which the bank notes are fed along the feed path 20 to the finned wheels 14, 15 and/or 16, by which the bank notes are stacked in the money containers 10, 11 and/or 12.
If the customer gives nonapproval instructions for money deposit, then the bank notes go from the temporary storage unit 8 via the feed path 20 through the temporary storage unit 9 into the bank note receiver 2 for return to the customer.
With the conventional automatic money depositing machine, the true bank notes which have temporarily been stored have to be separated, fed, and discriminated again, and hence are quite likely to get jammed or subjected to other troubles. Should the bank notes suffer some trouble in the machine, it will take a long period of time for the machine to return the bank notes to the customer who still has a claim for the return of the money. As a result, the downtime of the machine is increased affecting the business of the bank and making the service for the customer slow.
More specifically, as described above, bank notes deposited in the bank note receiver 2 are separated and fed one by one, and checked to discriminate true bank notes from false bank notes. The true and false bank notes are divided and stored in their respective temporary storage units 9, 8. Upon customer's instructions for transaction approval, the true bank notes are separated and fed one by one again, and their denominations are identified again, after which the bank notes are stored in the money containers 10, 11, 12. Therefore, the bank notes have to be separated and fed twice, a process which is relatively easily susceptible to trouble such as a bank note jam. Since the bank notes must be fed along the feed path which is long, it is quite often for the bank notes to get involved in trouble during delivery along the feed path.
At the time the customer issues instructions for transaction approval or nonapproval, the bank notes are stored in the temporary storage unit and hence are not accessible by the customer. When trouble such as a bank note jam occurs after bank notes have been placed in the machine, the machine becomes inoperative while the bank notes which the customer still has a claim for the return of remains trapped in the machine owned by the bank. In order to get the machine operative and return the bank notes to the customer, the machine must be attended by an operator from the bank, resulting in a long period of time until the bank notes are returned to the customer.
Trouble such a bank note jam may happen while the bank notes are being fed from the temporary storage unit toward the bank note receiver after the customer has instructed the machine to cancel monetary deposit. In this case, too, a long period of time is required for the customer to have the bank notes returned since the machine stops and must be attended by an operator.
When the above trouble occurs, the downtime of the machine is increased resulting in an obstacle to banking business and inconvenience to customers.
Another problem is that the shutter at the bank note receiver 2 opens in the same manner irrespective of whether only false bank notes are returned or all bank notes deposited are returned under the direction of the customer. Therefore, the customer cannot tell, from the manner in which the shutter opens, whether only false bank notes are returned or all bank notes deposited are returned.